Works on Natural History. 501 



works of Buffon in course of publication, in all shapes and 

 sizes ; and, on asking one of the professors at the Jardin des 

 Plantes whether there were not as many as a dozen, the reader 

 may judge of our surprise at his replying that the number was 

 nearer thirty. It is the practice, indeed, for the French 

 " editeurs " to use the name of Buffon as a catch-word for all 

 sorts of natural history books ; and, therefore, many of these 

 editions may not contain one word written by Buffon, being- 

 abridgments, entirely new works, or additions. Still, the fact 

 that such a number of works are from time to time making 

 their appearance before the public, fully proves that the atten- 

 tion cannot but be, to a very great extent, directed to this 

 branch of science. 



The works at the head of this article are not amongst the 

 least valuable of these modern productions. The first of these 

 is a joint production of Messrs. Andouin, Deshayes, d'Or- 

 begny, Duges, Duverney, Laurillard, Milne Edwards, Roulin, 

 and Valenciennes. The object of this edition of the Regne 

 Animal is to illustrate the old edition (the text of which is 

 reprinted entire), by figures and details of all the species given 

 in that work as types. The idea is an excellent one, and, so 

 far as the art of draughtsman or engraver is concerned, nothing 

 further is to be desired. It will be sufficient to say that these 

 plates remind us more of the great work on Egypt than any 

 others we have yet seen. The work is in royal octavo, and 

 appears in livraisons, each containing 4, plates filled with 

 figures ; the price, uncoloured, 2^ francs (double price 

 coloured). In one of the entomological plates we perceive 

 that an insect (Phyllium siccifolium), in the pupa state, has 

 been given as that of the imago. The various portions of 

 the work may be obtained separately. 



With the same view of pictorially illustrating the Regne 

 Animal, the Iconographie of M. Guerin was commenced, which 

 now consists of between 600 and 700 plates and many thousand 

 figures. The principle which was adopted, however, in this 

 work, was, rather to give new species than the express types 

 described by Cuvier ; so that there are many species, and even 

 genera, which are not found in the Regne Animal. This has 

 its inconveniences and advantages ; and, for our own part, we 

 cannot help thinking that the repetition of figures of well- 

 known species, in every body's possession, is a practice which 

 does not allow so great an extension of science as the illustra- 

 tion of rare and new species. As it is, the Iconograj)hie is a 

 very valuable work, precious for the number of new materials, 

 and for the immense variety of structural details which its 

 plates comprise, the value of which have, indeed, caused them 

 to be already twice pirated in our own country ; a practice of 



